Zeolites are very attractive host materials for developing nanocomposites due to their ability to selectively exchange and integrate transition metals, salts, charged and neutral species within their cages and interconnecting channels. Ion exchange research studies in zeolites started in the 1950s' when the formation of superlattices in these systems was reported. Since then, many research advances have been accomplished in the development and study of the properties of various metal ions in zeolite frameworks. Currently, silver zeolite materials have many applications in different areas such as catalysis, biological labeling, medicine, water treatment, antibacterial products, optoelectronics, and surface enhanced Raman scattering.
Aqueous ion exchange and molten salts have been the regular methods to introduce cationic species inside the cages of various types of zeolites. In addition, the physical and chemical properties of the host materials produced by those techniques have been controlled and improved by annealing under inert and reactive atmospheres. Manufacture of high quality silver zeolite implies long reactions times, usually over 20 hours, and a highly trained production workforce along with special facilities to handle high temperatures and very-low- vacuum systems. In order to overcome this technical scenario, a variant of the so-called “polyol” process is applied in which silver nitrate is reduced by ethylene glycol in the presence of a polymer cationic binder. The polyol method has proven to control shape, purity, and size distribution of metallic silver nanostructures. However, what is needed is a simple, cost-effective synthesis method for the production of silver nanoclusters.